


A Moment Longer

by Xuxunette



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Canon Compliant, Drabble, Jealousy, M/M, Patronus Charm (Harry Potter), Snippets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:28:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29158173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xuxunette/pseuds/Xuxunette
Summary: A private moment during HPB according to the Prince's Tale chapter's timeline.
Relationships: Albus Dumbledore/Severus Snape, Harry Potter & Severus Snape, Tom Riddle | Voldemort/Severus Snape
Kudos: 12





	A Moment Longer

Severus lowered his hand back onto the desk.

'Are you still wearing that gaudy gewgaw?'

The tone made him chuckle. The potions master had just checked his decaying limb after having given him another dose of restorative.

The question was rhetorical, of course. It also laid bare the inevitability of his fate. The potion he just drank wouldn't help, and they both knew it.

Nonetheless, he was grateful for the concern shown.

'It's harmless now. Helps me think,' replied he.

He was very tired, and felt chilly. He made to stand up from his desk.

'I doubt it,' Severus responded.

The solemn statement, and the weight of Severus' gaze, made him ponder that the potions master may very well know what the ring, and its stone, really was.

It was the first time the man had given an indication of such.

He paused in his upward movement, searching into the dark man's eyes, but Severus looked away and moved to leave.

Before the younger man could do so, he caught the hem of a black sleeve.

'Would you stay a moment longer?'

\-----------

They were in his bed.

Severus had helped him remove his heavy outer robe. And he had watched deft fingers undo rows of buttons on familiar black garments.

They lay close, facing each other, under the dense blankets.

After their row weeks ago, they hadn't crossed paths beyond in passing. His request for the potion was the first time they had spoken since.

'Does it comfort you? The stone.' A quiet question.

Severus was rarely inquisitive about anything private. In that moment, he acknowledged to himself that he had been discouraging of the sort.

'You are in love with him,' eluded he.

Severus looked at him quizzically — distracted.

'With whom? The Dark Lord? You know he thinks it gives him hold over me.'

The flat, matter-of-fact statement, a verbatim of his own words when he, himself, had encouraged that development, wasn't quite agreeable to his own ears.

Sometimes he pitied Severus for how truly blindly he trusted the old fool he was.

'No, with the boy. Harry,' he answered, recalling the beautiful silver doe.

Severus' eyebrows shot upward and perched high before the flash of understanding spread to his features. He huffed derisively.

'Are you _jealous,_ Albus?'

The genuine amusement in Severus' voice dissolved all the things left silent between them.

It sounded like forgiveness for all the things he had asked of the man. And it warmed his chest.

Maybe he was jealous. He would very much like for Severus to think so anyway.

He drew closer and kissed Severus' lips. The man's mouth opened, pliantly.

He felt better; the potion was taking effect.

End.

**Author's Note:**

> I like all Dumbledore/Severus interactions in the book. Thinking about Dumbledore's sexuality is mind wrapping, but I think they'd manage some cute moments together if they were a couple.


End file.
